Environmental Management Systems (EMS) are important voluntary tools used by the business sphere and other organisations in the world, as well as in the Czech Republic, for the management of the impacts of their activities, products and services on the environment. The article presents EMS as a tool for the management of the environmental aspects and impacts of organisations, depicts the development of their implementation into the practice deployed by organisations around the world and in the Czech Republic in the last 15 years and highlights the systems’ benefits for the society and for the organisations themselves.